Program: GN-2021A-LP-105
Title: | Validation and Characterization of Exoplanets with Gemini HIgh-Resolution Imaging |
PI: | Steve Howell |
Co-I(s): | Nic Scott, Rachel Matson, Katie Lester, Johanna Teske, Crystal Gnilka, Elise Furlan, Mark Everett, David Ciardi, Zach Hartman |
Abstract
The NASA TESS mission, building on the success of Kepler and K2, has again changed our view of exoplanets. TESS has observed the entire sky in its prime mission, finding candidate exoplanets orbiting bright and nearby stars, and is soon to start its extended mission. Validation and characterization of exoplanets by high-resolution imaging is routinely shown to be absolutely necessary in order to not only prove the planets existence but to allow assignment of a correct radius and density for each exoplanet. The true nature of exoplanet host star binarity, in terms of their orbital period distribution, mass ratio, binary orbit, and even which star the postulated planet orbits are not known a priori but our imaging solves these dilemmas. Given that ~50% of exoplanet host stars are binaries, without high resolution images of the host star a) small planets, especially those in habitable zone orbits, can not be validated and properly characterized and b) any true exoplanet will have, on average, an incorrect radius by a factor of 1.5, that is, the planet will be larger than assumed. We propose to continue our 8-year Gemini community-based speckle imaging program and observe TESS exoplanet host stars as well as some remaining high-value K2 candidates, CHEOPS detections, radial velocity detections with residuals, and repeat observations of a select set for orbits. We will continue to make all of our reduced data public at the Gemini and NASA Exoplanet Archives.
Publications using this program's data
-
[data]
[ADS] TOI-2076 and TOI-1807: Two Young, Comoving Planetary Systems within 50 pc Identified by TESS that are Ideal Candidates for Further Follow Up
-
[data]
[ADS] Discovery of an inflated hot Jupiter around a slightly evolved star TOI-1789
-
[data]
[ADS] TOI-2257 b: A highly eccentric long-period sub-Neptune transiting a nearby M dwarf
-
[data]
[ADS] TOI-530b: a giant planet transiting an M-dwarf detected by TESS
-
[data]
[ADS] Validation of 13 Hot and Potentially Terrestrial TESS Planets
-
[data]
[ADS] A 38 Million Year Old Neptune-sized Planet in the Kepler Field
-
[data]
[ADS] TOI-2046b, TOI-1181b, and TOI-1516b, three new hot Jupiters from TESS: planets orbiting a young star, a subgiant, and a normal star
-
[data]
[ADS] TOI-1268b: The youngest hot Saturn-mass transiting exoplanet
-
[data]
[ADS] The TESS Grand Unified Hot Jupiter Survey. I. Ten TESS Planets
-
[data]
[ADS] The TESS-Keck Survey. XI. Mass Measurements for Four Transiting Sub-Neptunes Orbiting K Dwarf TOI-1246
-
[data]
[ADS] A CHEOPS-enhanced view of the HD 3167 system,★
-
[data]
[ADS] Doppler Constraints on Planetary Companions to Nearby Sun-like Stars: An Archival Radial Velocity Survey of Southern Targets for Proposed NASA Direct Imaging Missions
-
[data]
[ADS] A systematic validation of hot Neptunes in TESS data
-
[data]
[ADS] Characterization of a Set of Small Planets with TESS and CHEOPS and an Analysis of Photometric Performance
-
[data]
[ADS] A super-Earth and a mini-Neptune near the 2:1 MMR straddling the radius valley around the nearby mid-M dwarf TOI-2096
-
[data]
[ADS] VaTEST. II. Statistical Validation of 11 TESS-detected Exoplanets Orbiting K-type Stars
-
[data]
[ADS] Kepler's last planet discoveries: two new planets and one single-transit candidate from K2 campaign 19